The Autopsy

A slow-burn lovecraftian nightmare that takes body horror to levels even your toughest of horror fans would struggle to sit through, "The Autopsy" is a wonderfully accomplished horror short, and the best episode of Del Toro's anthology series so far.

The human body itself is the star of this grim, horrifying tale, as it plays on the fear all humans have over their own body. What makes us tick, and how does it all work in there? But to see the body VIOLENTLY picked apart, with no shying away from the gore at hand, is brutal and jarring to experience.

The practical effects are incredible, and the level of gore is something David Bruckner's "Hellraiser" would be envious about! The slow burn build up is made all the more worth while when you reach the inspiring final 15 minutes of lovecraftian magic.

Dark, twisted, and absolutely unforgiving, David Prior's "The Autopsy" is a well organ-ized horror gem that sends viewers on a trip through the anatomy of their bodies, in all its grotesque yuckiness.

9.2/10

MovieFestUK - IG.

The short story by Michael Shea that this is based on is one of the greatest pieces of sci fi horror fiction ever committed to the page. When I read it a few years ago all I could think was how it would make an absolutely amazing film, if they managed to stick to the story. When I started watching this and saw it was called The Autopsy I thought 'this can't possibly be the Michael Shea story.' Then as it got started I though 'wow I never thought I'd see his work committed to the screen, I bet they mess this up!' But no, not only were they faithful to the original work, the director also managed to convey the sinister atmosphere of Shea's writing brilliantly. As I was watching I was thinking the whole time this is exactly how I pictured the events in the story. Just an amazing job, acting, cinematography, music, tone, atmosphere, all completely bang on! If you liked this film I would urge you to track down the original story, it really is a masterpiece and gives a lot more detail that would have been very difficult to get across on film. And then try and get hold of anything else by the late, great Michael Shea, his stuff really is mind-bendingly phenomenal, especially his Cthulhu Mythos stories. Anyway, this is one of the best things I've seen in ages, kudos to everyone involved.

With likable characters and an interesting and creepy plot, this episode is the best of the 4 that are available as I'm writing this review.

As in the previous episodes, the visuals are great and the acting is good, however, what sets this episode apart for me are the main characters (the coroner and the sheriff). Both are likable characters and you quickly root for them giving the necessary feeling of fear when they are threatened. This is not the case in the other 3 episodes available so far (maybe in episode 4 you kinda root for the main character and her husband but they are both a bit creepy so I couldn't relate to them as much) which to me elevates this episode beyond the others.

Additionally, the story feels complete, there is proper development in the plot structure that I feel is missing in the first 2 episodes. Here you get a mystery that gets resolved by the end of the episode and they use flashbacks and conversation to fill in the blanks just enough that it feels satisfactory without feeling overbearing.

As mentioned above, visually the episode excels and has some really creepy and gory scenes (I don't recommend eating while watching). The score is also good, properly punctuating the more tense moments.

All said, best episode so far, hope 5 and 6 are equally good...

Sheriff Nate Craven calls on the help of old friend and pathologist Doctor Carl Winters, when a body is found buried.

This series is just getting better and better, the quality of this episode compared to the first two, is up several notches, I enjoyed them, I absolutely loved this.

The horror moments here were real, and genuinely unsettling, there are several scenes that'll have you a little uncomfortable.

The autopsy scene was quite a chilling moment I thought, as Carl proceeds, you just sit waiting patiently for something to happen.

Production values are off the scale, I would say that this has film like qualities, but compared to recent films, this is actually up a notch from those. The special effects continue to be just that, special, truly fantastic.

Superb acting, everyone present played their part incredibly well, there were no spare parts.

Excellent, 9/10.

Enabled through brillant writing by David S. Goyer and apparent care for medical details and skilled crafted dialogue, F. Murray Abraham delivers a chilling performance, aided by an overall excellent cast, including Glynn Turman and Luke Roberts.

Set in the outgoing 1970s the attention to details and elaborate cinematography rivals David Fincher's finest works. In lesser hands this could have been a mediocre slasher with some cheap shockers, but David Prior transforms it into an extremely gripping, rhythmically well-balanced mood piece that drags you in and takes you for a ride just like... well, it needs to be seen instead of being spoiled in this here review.

All that should be said about its content is that Abraham plays a seasoned coroner begged for help by an old friend to examine the cause of death of several miners in a small town.

Sheer cinematic joy! Watch it!